1996 Ford Taurus G Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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2020 Ford Police Interceptor Utility dominates Michigan State Police testing

The Michigan State Police has released its preliminary findings from testing the 2019 crop of police vehicles, and the results are a bit surprising. The consistent top performer of the bunch was the 2020 Ford Police Interceptor Utility, better known to civilians as the Ford Explorer. Specifically, the top performer was the model with the new turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. The Michigan State Police conducts acceleration, top speed, braking and lap time tests of all the available police vehicles. The 3.0-liter Police Interceptor Utility was the fastest to 60 mph at 5.77 seconds, had the highest top speed of 150 mph, and the best average lap time of 1:36.47. The lap time was particularly impressive as it was just over half a second faster than the next quickest car, the all-wheel-drive V8 Charger. View 13 Photos Still, the 2019 Dodge Charger gave the Explorer a serious run for its money. The all-wheel-drive V8 Charger was only 0.1 seconds behind the Explorer to 60 mph with a time of 5.87 seconds, and the rear-drive version was third quickest at 6.15 seconds. Both V8 Chargers were only 1 mph off of the Explorer's top speed, and the V6 example was third fastest at 141 mph. We already mentioned the all-wheel-drive V8 Charger was half a second off the Explorer's lap time, and the rear-drive variant was just over 1 second behind, giving it the third fastest average time. Dodge also took home braking bragging rights. The V6 Charger won out with a distance of 126.9 feet, followed by the rear-drive V8 Charger with 128 feet, and the V6 Durango Pursuit stopping at 128.8 feet. Now of course where there are winners, there are also losers. The slowest accelerating police car was the Ford Police Responder Hybrid Sedan, better known as the Fusion Hybrid, with a time of 9.24 seconds. At 8.59 seconds was the V6 Dodge Durango, and the V8 Chevy Tahoe with four-wheel-drive was third slowest at 7.98 seconds. Lowest top speed was 106 mph with the Ford F-150 Police Responder with the 3.5-liter turbocharged V6, followed by the V6 and V8 Durangos with 117- and 118-mph top speeds respectively. In braking, the Chevy Tahoes performed the worst with the rear-drive version stopping at 145.7 feet and the four-wheel-drive version stopping at 142.5 feet. The F-150 followed with 141.9 feet. When it came to lap times, the Fusion Hybrid lapped the slowest with a time of 1:46.31. The V6 Durango was about a second faster with a time of 1:45.45.

Ford unveils next-gen S-Max in Europe

Let's get this unfortunate though important tidbit out of the way right off the bat: The Ford S-Max isn't sold in the United States, and it's not coming here, at least not anytime soon. And so it's with our European friends in mind that we share this information about the next-gen S-Max (previewed about a year ago in concept form) that is set to debut all across Europe next year and will be shown off at the upcoming Paris Motor Show. Now, moving on...
As with the first-gen S-Max, the new model will boast seating for seven passengers, along with a decent amount of storage space, all packed into a relatively reasonably sized package. Powering the front wheels (or optionally all four) will be the buyer's choice of EcoBoost gasoline-turbocharged or turbo-diesel four-cylinder engines along with automatic and manual transmission options. Included in the mix is a new 1.5-liter EcoBoost with 160 horsepower, though the 240-horse 2.0 is likely to be seen as the headliner.
There are all kinds of new technologies on offer, ranging from Adaptive Steering to Dynamic LED Headlamps with Glare-Free Highbeams, and it's all housed inside new, more sleekly designed bodywork riding atop a chassis with new suspension architecture designed to make the S-Max a people-hauler that's still fun to drive. For all the details, we suggest you scroll down below to read through Ford's official press release.

Gulf-liveried Ford GT40 takes triumphant lap of the track

Ford is heavily rumored to return to Le Mans in 2016 with the latest GT for the 50th anniversary of the GT40's first victory there. Even if the new model doesn't come back to the track, it's worth commemorating this classic racer's accomplishments, and watching one lap Miller Motorsports Park is a perfect opportunity to do that. This is almost too short of a video for the great cinematography on display. The camera floats over the curves of a Gulf-liveried GT40, while text and archival interviews tell the car's story. Then, it's finally time for the engine to fire up and get on track. The racecar highlighted here is quite fascinating, too. It started competing as a GT40-based Mirage in 1967 with the famous orange and blue color scheme and was converted fully to a Ford in '68, according to Miller Motorsports Park. In 1970 Steve McQueen bought this one to be the camera car in Le Mans, and it has been part of the Larry H. Miller Total Performance Museum since 2012. This clip is actually a promotion for a website called Inside Sales, but with the impressive production values, it's easy to imagine this as the teaser trailer for Ford's possible return to Le Mans, as well. Related Video: